On Saturday I had an unusual gull at Middle Harbor on Catawba.  You can get to this area by taking the road past the East Harbor State Park entrance and continue north.  The road will veer to the right.  The area that will be on your left is Middle Harbor.
 
The gull closely resembled a third cycle yellow-footed gull (Larus livens), a bird far out of range.  The bird was larger than a herring gull, had a mantle a shade or two darker than a lesser black-backed gull, had bright yellow legs, an unmarked white head, an extremely thick bill, and the remnants of a tail band.  The bird very closely resembles a yellow-footed gull.  The unmarked white head and partially banded tail fit a third year of that species.  The hybrid between kelp gull and herring gull are also said to resemble a yellow-footed gull.  I'll be forwarding a link to the photos to the ID Frontiers list-serv to get some opinions of the bird.  The large size of the bird (it was larger than a male herring gull), the large bill, coupled with the bright yellow legs, and unmarked head pretty much rule out lesser black-backed gull.  I'm not sure what local hybrids could make up a bird that looks like this.  The bill was thicker than a great black-backed gulls bill.  It was definitely an interesting bird.
 
Photos and and a more thorough description of the bird can be found at:
 
http://www.rarebird.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2753&PID=8102#8102
 
If you have any ideas about this bird, just email me or post them at the rarebird.org site
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